A Different Perspective On Today

[Frazer Lloyd-Davies]

Today, two French guys came to the game with me, to watch their first ever English football match.

Before the game they said to me they wanted to watch "football with passion. Real English football. None of this Chelsea and money crap." Trust me, they were in for a treat.

They loved the Green Army. They couldn't grasp how a fourth division match drew over 3,000 fans and were astonished when they saw how many Plymouth fans there were; especially when I showed them the distance the fans had travelled.

On top of that, they loved how much we sung. They loved the passion and the believe we had in the team. They absolutely loved the atmosphere and didn't believe me when I said it was sometimes better than that and that at Home Park we had over 6,000 fans every week.

They were totally overwhelmed by the whole Argyle away experience and for some reason it made me feel really bloody proud. Whilst I continue to share a house with them, I think we have found two more Argyle fans.

And, on top of that, as one so rightly said, "It doesn't matter if we win or lose, we sing. We always sing!"

Green Army!

 

[HarlHM]

:nworthy: :scarf: :clap:

 

[justanotherfan]

Says it all!!!!!!!!

 

[Saracen10]

What a heart warming tale :clap: :clap:

 

[The Doctor]

Magnifique - allez les verts

 

[bodspafc]

I hope you told them about a great French assistant manager and a certain Mr Frio too? Good story though, keep them green!

 

[Moleman]

It was something that always impressed David Friio and Romain Larrieu, in fact all the French players we have had (even Yoann Folly!) Friio especially often remarked how surprised he was and then later just how much in awe he was at the passion for football in England at lower levels. In other countries the top divisions command very good crowds but as soon as you drop into the second tier and even more so the third tier in Europe the attendances drop to lower than South Western League levels.

Last night a friend an I were in Le Vignoble (the French wine bar in Royal William Yard) we were talking to the owner Yannick Loue who is a Parisian and a PSG fan. We were keeping an eye on the England game on our iphones and he asked us about the game. He has lived in England for several years and told us he was still amazed at the strength of feeling for football in England compared to France. He told us that despite what you may read on Sky Sports (att 50,000?) that France v Japan last night sold less than a quarter of the tickets available and that a lot of the French side would rather play at a provincial ground than the Stade de France and that even though they had given away a lot of tickets to schools there was around 15,000 in the ground. He said that it just shows how the depth of feeling for football runs in England that even though we were playing no hopers San Marino, Wembley was sold out!

 

[Lundan Cabbie]

So will they be coming with you to Home Park next weekend?

 

[Green Flash]

To be honest it is a bit misleading to show them the distance to Plymouth and imply most people made that journey, like you there are many London based Argyle fans and I would guess they made up the majority of away fans yesterday as they do at most London games.

 

[greensummit]

So how long have i lnown cantona and henry

 

[BadBoy]

To be honest it is a bit misleading to show them the distance to Plymouth and imply most people made that journey, like you there are many London based Argyle fans and I would guess they made up the majority of away fans yesterday as they do at most London games.

Point is even if they were London based as like you suggest they still go to see Argyle, if the game was in Rochdale there would still be a large Argyle following many of whom are northern based but there are also plenty that travel from Plymouth and plenty that go from even further down in cornwall there aren't many teams that get that kind of support away from home in the championship let alone league 2.

 

[Suffolk Green]

Sign them up - French greens - allez les verts !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Lundan Cabbie]

To be honest it is a bit misleading to show them the distance to Plymouth and imply most people made that journey, like you there are many London based Argyle fans and I would guess they made up the majority of away fans yesterday as they do at most London games.

Point is even if they were London based as like you suggest they still go to see Argyle, if the game was in Rochdale there would still be a large Argyle following many of whom are northern based but there are also plenty that travel from Plymouth and plenty that go from even further down in cornwall there aren't many teams that get that kind of support away from home in the championship let alone league 2.

You make it sound as if Argyle have a "rent a crowd" in all regions to bolster the number of fans travelling up from Plymouth.

It doesn't matter where they come from on the day. They were there wearing their green.

It would be intersting to know how many Argyle fans actually do more away games than home in a season. A lot more than other clubs I would think. I'm a Palace exile but I still do more home than away games despite Plymouth being 225 miles from Selhurst simply because we get very few away games closer to the south west.

 

[bringonthemilkman]

I'm one of those cabbie, Generally get to 8 or 9 away matches but only 1 or 2 at HP.

 

[Mark Colling]

I'm one of those cabbie, Generally get to 8 or 9 away matches but only 1 or 2 at HP.

... and me; similar numbers.

Why? Home Park is such a bleedy misreable place and away games can be combined with visits to friends and family.